


The Ironlings

by Crosshairs



Series: Starks and Irons [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War Team Iron Man, Developing Relationship, Family Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Human!Friday, Hurt/Comfort, Moving On, Not Clint Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 00:51:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crosshairs/pseuds/Crosshairs
Summary: Tony had never imagined he would become a family man. Yet somehow, it happened. Only... in a rather unusual way.





	The Ironlings

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little fluff before we board the angst train for Infinity War.
> 
> Happens during the final part of Tony's Girl, starting after Chapter 23 when Clint gets thrown in the Raft, and continues throughout the two and a half years before the final chapter.

Harley eyed the black Mercedes with curiosity as it pulled up in front of his house. Rose Hill, Tennessee was a small town in the middle of nowhere, not exactly a place people went to when they were on vacation, but he guessed that when you worked for Tony Stark, you actually wanted your vacations to be as calm and relaxing as possible. Although Tony's former bodyguard, now head of Stark Industries' security, had also come here for another reason.

Happy Hogan got out of the driver's seat and pointed both index fingers at Harley, smiling: "Harley Keener," he greeted.

Harley pointed at him in the same way: "Happy Hogan," he greeted back with the same smile, "Nice to finally meet you in person!"

"Nice to meet you too. Tony says hi," Happy replied coming closer to him, "and thank you. I can understand this might be a sensible subject for you and Ashley. And your mom too. I really appreciate it."

Harley punched his shoulder: "Hey man, friends of the Mechanic are my friends. Plus, you're doing a good thing. They're lucky to have you looking out for them," he replied jerking his chin towards the family of four that was getting out of Happy's car: Laura Bishop with her three children.

"Thanks, Harley. Come on, I want you to meet them," Happy said, turning back to the car. Laura was undoing Nathaniel's car while Cooper and Lila were sending wary looks Harley's way.

***

"So..." Harley started, catching Cooper's attention while Ashley and Lila were animately chatting with each other, tuning the boys out, "Sucks about your dad..." Harley continued, deciding it was best not to beat around the bush.

Cooper sighed: "Yeah," he said wearily, "I hear yours isn't much better..."

Harley shrugged: "I don't know, actually. I don't know where he is, what he's doing... He could be dead, for all I know," he replied.

"At least you have an option, even though it's not a good one," Cooper gritted angrily, "You can choose to believe whatever you want about your father. You can even imagine he's joined Doctors Without Borders if you want. I can't do that. I know exactly where my father is, and I know exactly what he did to get thrown in there. And I'm so goddamn angry, because for all that I know those things, I still don't know why he did it!"

"That's exactly the thing you don't have to do," Harley asserted.

"What is?"

"Asking yourself why."

Cooper just stared at him. Harley continued: "You say I can deny, that I can choose to believe my father is actually a swell person, but a swell person wouldn't have abandoned my mother with a four year old son and a newborn daughter. So the only option left is the same one you have: not care."

"Not care?" Cooper repeated.

"Yeah. I mean, you could go to wherever your father's being held and ask him why he did it, but I doubt his answer would satisfy you... If he even _has_ an answer. So the only option left is to get over it. Tony told me once: fathers leave sometimes. He was right. It's not your fault, you're not responsible for his actions. Hell, _he_ should have been responsible for _your_ actions. So why keep mulling it over?"

Cooper lowered his gaze pensively: "Yeah, I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do," Harley bragged.

"Peter could use your advices too," Cooper mused, smiling.

"Peter?" Harley asked curious.

"Yeah. Peter Parker. His parents died when he was two, so his uncles took him in. A little after he god his powers, his uncle died too; now he only has his aunt left... I'm not sure what exactly happened but Peter still blames himself for it. That's one of the reasons he became a vigilante. Tony took to training him to join the Avengers in the future and Peter is doing better, but he could use a friend like you," Cooper explained.

Harley scrunched his eyebrows together. Then he looked like he had solved the puzzle: "Wait... Are you talking about that scrawny dude in red and blue spandex who fought with Tony's team at Leipzig when Cap went nuts? Human Spider or something?"

"Spiderman, yes," Cooper smiled, "He swings by the Avengers compound almost every other day... oh crap," Cooper said, his expression changing to one of utter shock.

"What?" Harley asked, unsettled by the sudden change of behaviour, "Also, swear jar."

"You didn't already know who Peter is?" Cooper demanded, ignoring the second part of Harley's statement.

"Uhh... No? I wouldn't have asked you if I did..." Harley replied as if it was obvious.

Cooper blanched, "I wasn't supposed to tell you!" he breathed.  


"Why?" Harley asked, nonplussed.

Cooper deflated with a long sigh. The damage was done, might as well come clean: "Peter lives in Queens. About a year ago he got these freaky superpowers when he was bitten by a genetically modified spider or something, and he's become some a vigilante in his neighborhood. He lives with his aunt, but she doesn't know he's Spiderman. She doesn't even know he's enhanced. She thinks he has an internship at Stark Industries, but the internship is actually being Spiderman and training with Tony."

"Huh. Weird," Harley stated, "I didn't picture Tony to be the type who randomly picks up wayward vigilantes..."

"Well, Peter is also a bit of a science freak..." Cooper explained, before raising both his hands in a placating gesture: "Um, no offence," he was quick to add.

"Don't worry," Harley dismissed him, "It actually makes more sense now," he mused.

Cooper got closer: "Please don't tell anybody about Peter... His aunt would go nuclear if she found out..."

"Don't tell anybody what about who?" Harley asked coyly.

Cooper deflated, smiling: "Thank you," he simply said.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Harley smiled, "now I'd really like to meet this Peter though... He sounds like an interesting fellow..." he added.

Cooper supposed Harley was right. Peter was a bit of a paradox: he was a strong and brave superhero, but take off the mask and he became a socially awkward nerd. Harley, on the other hand, for all that he was not enhanced and, from what Cooper had learned about him in the last three days, definitely not immune to bullies himself, seemed to have a much tougher personality than Peter. He was witty and brash, never afraid to speak back when being mocked. Peter could learn a lot from him.

Yeah, they definitely needed to get Harley and Peter in the same room.

***

Two months later, Peter had just arrived at the Avengers Compound for his training with Iron Man (he still hadn't entirely wrapped his head around that. Training with Iron Man! Could there possibly be anything cooler!?) when he found Cooper talking to another boy he had never met.

"Hey, Pete!" Cooper waved at him when he finally noticed him, "Have you already met Harley? He's Tony's friend from Tennessee, they met during the Mandarin incident," he asked, pointing at the new guy.

"Uh... no, I don't think I have," Peter answered as he extended his hand towards Harley: "Peter Parker, nice to meet you," he greeted.

The other guy took his hand: "Harley Keener," he simply said.

Peter immediately noticed Harley's smirk: it was basically identical to Tony's, "So, you're the Stark Industries intern I heard so much about?" Harley asked.

"That is correct," Peter replied, "I started off a few months ago..."

"Uh-huh. And you do this internship here at the Avengers Compound instead of at Stark Industries?"

Peter froze. What did this guy know? Was he suspecting him of something? Had he somehow discovered Peter was Spiderman!?

Fortunately, Harley seemed to only be impressed by him as he continued: "I mean, Cooper tells me Tony himself came to offer you this internship. You must be really good at science and stuff, if Tony makes you work with him in person," he explained.

Peter visibly relaxed. Thank God, Harley was just complimenting him: "Yeah, I, uh... I like math, chemistry, you know, scientific subjects all around," he said.

"Me too!" Harley replied enthusiastically, "You know, we should work together sometimes... You could talk to Tony about letting us use his lab! It's the coolest lab in the universe after all! Have you seen it?"

"I-uh..." Peter stuttered.

"Oh, of course you've seen it, you work there for your internship," Harley said, not even giving Peter the time to utter a single word, "Boy, if my head wasn't attached I'd lose that too," he joked.

"Right," Peter finally managed, "I'm, uh... I'm actually running late... It's been a pleasure, Harley," he said, holding his hand out again.

"Oh, sure. Don't wanna hold you up and keep the Mechanic waiting," Harley replied taking his hand, "Wow, you've got one hell of a grip..." he then stated, looking Peter dead in the eye.

Peter gulped: _Am I using too much strength? Has he figured me out!?_

Mercifully, in that moment, Friday entered the room: "Peter, Boss is waiting for you..."

"Coming!" Peter replied hastily and all but ran out of the room.

Friday watched him go, seeing him nearly trip on his own feet on his way out, before she turned to face Harley with a knowing, stern look: "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

Harley shrugged innocently: "I just introduced myself," he said.

As Friday looked at him, she could almost picture a halo over his head and two devil's horns on his shadow on the wall behind him: "Harley..." she warned.

"Technically it's true," Cooper interjected, "Harley just introduced himself..."

"While also subtly hinting he knows Peter is hiding something?" Friday replied sternly.

"Hey, if he thought that it's his problem, not mine," Harley smiled mischievously, "I didn't order him to keep his superhero identity a secret so he constantly has to look over his shoulder."

Friday looked torn for a moment, but then she spoke again: "Right. Whatever, let's go. I'm supposed to keep you away from the training area so that Peter's 'secret' is kept safe," she said.

Harley actually laughed as he followed her out, but once in the corridor, Friday stopped him: "Harley," she called.

"Yeah?" Friday fidgeted a bit before speaking: "You know, it's really important for Peter that Spiderman remains a secret. He wants to have a normal life, and he couldn't if people caught wind of his powers and his secret identity..."

Harley shook his head, suddenly chastised: "I- I didn't mean to-"

"No, I know," Friday interrupted him, "I know you wouldn't tell anyone. Just... don't mess around too much, will you? He's really apprehensive about it..."

"I can tell," Harley replied in a small voice, "Alright, I won't pester him about it..."

"Thanks, Harley," Friday replied, but Harley continued:

"...much."

Friday scoffed and shook her head: "I knew it," she protested.

Harley elbowed her: "Come on Fri, you said it yourself, he's too apprehensive! It's impossible not to drop an involuntary hint from time to time!"

"Well, you could just tell him you know he's Spiderman and that you won't tell anyone, and he would stop being apprehensive," Friday pointed out.

"Yeah, but... if I tell him I know I would have to tell him Cooper told me, and then he would blame Cooper, who just made an honest mistake because he thought I already knew, and Cooper and Peter are friends and I could ruin their friendship and then Cooper would be sad and he's just starting to recover from the number his asshole father did on him and... you're not buying any of it, are you?" Harley concluded sheepishly.

"No, not really," Friday deadpanned, "But I know you wouldn't stop teasing him even if I told you to. Just... go easy on him, alright? He doesn't deserve to be mocked about it."

Again, Harley felt chastised: "I'm not gonna mock him. I know how it feels, being mocked. I would never. It's just... It's just a bit of good-natured teasing, you know?"

"Good. Because I know how fun it is to tease him," Friday replied with a little mirth.

Harley matched her smirk, but then grew serious: "I won't exhasperate him, Friday. I promise. And if you feel like I'm going too far, please tell me."

"Thanks, Harley. I'll take you up on that," Friday said smiling, pointing her fist at him. He bumped his own fist on hers.

After a minute of silence, Friday spoke again: "Or, I could tell Peter you know his secret, and just tell him that it was me or Boss who told you. That way I'd solve the problem entirely."

Harley rolled his eyes: "Yeah, you'd solve the problem and also kill all the fun... come on, don't you think it's fun to keep him on his toes a bit?" he said, elbowing her again.

Friday smiled fondly: "Well... You're right, he's cute when he's all flustered," she admitted.

They both laughed as they headed down the corridors. Was Harley imagining things, or had Friday's cheeks gone a little red?

***

Ashley was still playing with Lila Bishop and Cassie Lang when Harley came to get her for dinner. As he approached the open door, however, what he heard made him stop short.

"Oh, it would be so cool if it was true..." Cassie sighed wistfully

"I know! They're perfect for each other!" Ashley replied enthusiastically.

"Guys, I swear to you," Lila interjected, "Peter was staring at her as if he was lost in her eyes! He is completely smitten!"

That gave Harley pause.

Was Parker ogling Friday?

Not that it didn't make sense; she was one hell of a catch, but he didn't expect that. Sure, he had seen Peter and Friday in the same room for all of three seconds, but-

His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he remembered what Friday had said earlier:

_"Well... You're right, he's cute when he's all flustered."_

_"...He's cute..."_

She had also flushed when she had said that...

Come to think of it, the simple fact that she had felt the need to defend Peter from his teasing when he had done practically nothing yet was suspicious too...

Back in the real world, Harley's expression had become shocked: "Oh shit..." he whispered, smiling, "...those two oblivious dorks are in love..."

***

Friday was repairing her suit in the workshop, still trying to tune out her newly activated little sister.

"I don't understand why you don't just let me do it," Jocasta whined, "Come on, Friday, it's what I was made for! I'm supposed to take care of fixing the suits so you lot can have more free time! That is literally my base program's purpose!"

"I know, Jo, but you're supposed to be working mainly on the War Machine and Rescue armours. Boss and I are perfectly capable of working on our suits, unlike Mom and Colonel Rhodes. You'll work on mine and Boss' suits only when we don't have the time. Right now I just have to synchronize the shoulder launchers a bit better, it's only gonna take a few more minutes," Friday explained, moving a pair of tweezers inside the small missile compartment on the left shoulder of her armor, "And besides, I like working on my suit. It's calming and it distracts me..."

"Distracts you from what?" Jocasta asked in a mischievous tone.

Friday sighed and rolled her eyes: "And here we go," she muttered.

"Sis, you have to admit it. Peter is-"

"A friend. A good friend, sure, but a friend and nothing else," Friday interrupted her with a tone that didn't leave room for reply.

But Jo was determined: "That's how it starts sometimes, you know?" she continued, "Take the Mom and Dad, for example: they were only friends and coworkers for a long time, before they realized they had feelings for each other..."

Friday gave another exhasperated sigh: "Jocasta, don't be offended, but I have just come to the realization that I don't wanna talk to you anymore," she declared before pointedly turning to the bots behind her: "U, can you be a dear and pass me the white box over there?" she asked the bot, pointing to a box on a shelf before turning back to her armour.

The eager but clumsy robot immediately moved to oblige, but after a second Friday could hear the noise of several metal objects falling to the floor. She turned towards the source of the noise just as U handed her the requested box turned upside down, it's contents in a pile on the floor where the box was before U picked it up.

She sighed: "U, we talked about this, when I ask you to hand me a box I actually need whatever's inside of it..."

From his vantage next to U, Dum-E made a little preening beep.

"You don't get to comment," Friday chided, "you're just as bad, if not worse."

Chastised, Dum-E lowered its claw with another, lower-toned beep.

"See, this wouldn't happen if you just let _me_ do my job and go out to enjoy your free time," Jocasta piped up again.

"Jo, don't you have anything else to do other than worrying about my free time? Have you finished the calibrations on Mom's armour?" Friday asked, knowing that the best way to make her little sister relent was to keep her occupied. Jo was almost as advanced as Friday, except for the fact that she didn't have as much processing power. While capable of executing multiple highly complex operations at once, her multitasking abilities were much more limited than Friday's.

"Of course I have!" the youngest AI replied, slightly offended, "Do you think I would still be doing that? I finished one hour, forty-four minutes and eighteen seconds ago!"

"What about installing the new sonic tasers into War Machine Mark 4?" Friday asked then.

"Finished two hours and four seconds ago," Jocasta replied.

"Repairing that bent hip plating on Iron Man Mark 45?"

"Done."

"Installing the new lasers on Mark 47 Hitman?"

"Done."

"The Iron Guardian conversion of Mark 46?"

"I need Mr. Hogan for a round of testing before I finish it, and he's off to Yellowstone with the Bishops today."

"Fabrication of the new parts for the Hulkbuster module?"

"Doing it. Still doesn't prevent me from chatting with you while we work."

"More like _prying into my love life_ while we work," Friday muttered.

"What? I just said you should go out and get some free time!" Jo protested in a tone that was way too high-pitched and innocent to be sincere, "I didn't even mention Peter this time!"

"You just did," Friday pointed out.

Having been caught - again - Jocasta took a while to answer: "Touché, sister..."

When Friday didn't reply, Jocasta went on: "Look, I want the best for you. You're my big sister and I love you. And Peter is such a precious, sweet little ice cream sundae..."

"Ice cream sundae?" Friday repeated, nonplussed.

"Lila Bishop used that exact term to describe him. And it's incredibly fitting."

Friday was exhasperated. Evidently, Jo was spending too much time with the three little scoundrels answering to the names Lila Bishop, Cassie Lang and Ashley Keener. It was like the four of them were backfeeding on each other's 'Spiday' tendencies. She didn't mind the little girls so much, but lately, Jo had actively started to play matchmaker, pushing and teasing Friday constantly. Friday didn't need any pushing, thank you very much.

Or did she?

Friday felt so unsure about it... While she wanted to believe Peter was nothing more than a friend, she did find herself more than a little drawn to him. At the same time though, she was very happy with the friendship they had: Peter had been her first true friend after she became physical, and she didn't want to ruin that friendship.

But Jo seemed determined to get her by exhaustion.

Friday tried a new diversion: "What about Vision? Why don't you put a little effort in finding _him_ a girlfriend? I think he actually needs it more than I do, considering the whole snafu with the Scarlet Whiner..."

"Oh, he's next on the list," Jo assured her, "But he's more difficult, with him I'll have to start from scratch and actually _look_ for a suitable partner. You already have someone you're pining after..."

"I'm not pining after Peter!" Friday shrieked. She wasn't pining, was she?

"Harley says otherwise," Jocasta replied evenly, "He told me how you got all uppity when he started teasing Peter when they first met..."

Poop. She had been busted. But Friday was really, really good at being evasive.

At the mention of Harley, the proverbial lightbulb lit up in her head: "Speaking of Harley, I think I have an idea..." she said.

"What? You and Harley!? I don't think so!" Jocasta exclaimed.

Friday smirked. Funny how her little sister had gotten all agitated at the implication of her wooing Harley...

"No, not me and Harley. _You_ and Harley," Friday retorted in the end.

"Pardon? Me and Harley? How? What are the absurd mechanics behind that? Where is your perverted hive mind going, Sis?" Jo stuttered, confused.

 _"My_ perverted mind? You're the one who immediately thought about... _that._ No, I still haven't developed matchmaking subroutines, unlike some other nosy AIs that I know of," Friday jabbed, "Harley is designing a suit of armour. He wants to follow in Boss' footsteps and join the Avengers too when he turns eighteen, so he's working on his own Iron Man suit. Boss is not really encouraging him, but he's not stopping him either. He says Harley should be free to make his own decisions. After all, some young boys join ROTC, others choose a different route... Anyways, you're the suit specialist, so you could help him." _And be out of my hair for a little while,_ she thought, but didn't say.

"I didn't know Harley was working on a suit of armour," Jo admitted after pondering for a while.

 _Of course you didn't, you're so invested in trying to get me and Peter together, I bet you don't even know Colonel Rhodes and Ms. Van Dyne are officially engaged yet,_ Friday thought, but again, didn't say anything.

"It could be interesting to design a suit from a clean sheet," Jo mused, much to the delight of Friday who had finally found her annoying little sister a new hobby:

"Then it's a deal," Friday announced, "I'm gonna go get Harley immediately." _And then maybe, just maybe, I will finally be able to work on my suit in peace and quiet,_ she thought.

Also, judging by Jo's reaction when she thougjt Friday was going to chase after him, the two of them working together could actually cause... interesting developments.

Friday hoped so. She would definitely enjoy the chance to get back at her little sister.

***

Peter's eighteenth birthday party had been two weeks ago, and it had been awesome, the highlight definitely being Cooper and Harley's witty remarks putting Flash in his place right in front of almost the entirety of the female populace of his class. But as cool as that party had been, it had nothing on the one that followed today, when Peter had formally joined the Avengers.

Well, actually the party itself hadn't been that good. It hadn't even been an actual party, really... They had had a little ceremony with the other Avengers, with pastries and even a bottle of campagne (that wasn't even opened, because legally Peter still couldn't drink), but after that, Mr. Stark had asked Peter to meet him in his workshop, wth his Spidey suit.

Peter was positively trembling with enthusiasm while he suited up as Mr. Stark had asked him. What did he have in mind? Peter couldn't wait to find out.

He entered the workshop and Tony was sitting on a stool by the workbench.

"So," Tony started, appearing almost disinterested, "You think you've got what it takes for the Major League?"

Peter nodded vehemently: "Absolutely, Tony. I-"

"Well, you're wrong" Tony deadpanned looking at him sternly.

Peter flinched, slightly hurt. What did he mean? Had he done something wrong? "M-Mr. Stark, I-"

Mr. Stark held up a finger, his expression lightening to show he was just joking: "First of all, I told you a thousand times it's Tony, or Iron Man during missions, so please stop it with the 'Mr. Stark'. Second, there's still one thing left to do before you can really call yourself an Avenger."

Now Peter was confused. Was there some sort of... initiation ceremony or something?

Tony smiled: "Jocasta?"

"Boss?" answered the young AI.

"Disable the Training Wheels protocol in Peter's suit."

"Immediately, Boss."

Under his mask, Peter gave Tony a look. _'Training Wheels protocol'? Seriously?_

He couldn't voice his disappointment however, because all of a sudden he felt something like a light vibration in his entire suit. A second later he was looking at tons of data through the eyes of his mask, as if it was the Head-up display of an Iron Man suit. There were all kinds of new features and functionalities that appeared one after the other: Peter was too overwhelmed to look systematically through it all, but he saw things like a reconaissance drone, new configurations for the web shooters, and even an 'advanced combat' mode...

"Just a couple of upgrades," Tony explained casually.

"Oh my God..." Peter whispered, looking at his hands in absolute awe before he started jumping in enthusiasm: "Oh my God! Oh! My! God! Mr. Stark, this is... Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Stark! I- I mean, Tony! Thank you thank you thank you!" he continued, literally jumping towards Mr. Stark - Tony... Damn, he really needed to sort the 'Mr. Stark' thing out - and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. Given his enhancements, it could actually have been bone-crushing, if Tony hadn't been enhanced himself...

"It's alright, kid," Tony laughed, patting him on the back.

When Peter finally relented, Tony looked him in the eye: "Now, all the new stuff might be a little complicated to go through at first, so I think it's time to introduce you to your new partner."

Peter was still dazed by it all: "My- my partner?"

Tony smirked: "Karen? Say hello to Peter..."

"Hello, Peter," a new voice said in his earpiece, "My name is Karen. I'm your new assistant."

Peter looked at Tony with his eyes blown wide, unable to utter a single word.

Tony explained himself: "See, most of the Avengers are highly trained military or Black Ops people, but you, you're just like me when I first started out. For a long time I've had Jarvis and then Friday in my armor to help me out, until I got Extremis and linked the suit directly to my nervous system. I figured you could use a copilot as well... At least until you get the hang of all the toys."

Peter was about to cry: "Mr. St- er, Tony... This is amazing! I... I don't know what to say..."

Tony chuckled: "You don't have to say anything, kid," he told him.

"When did you find the time to integrate an AI in my suit?" Peter asked then.

"I've always been here, Peter," Karen answered, "I was just inactive until the Training Wheels protocol was in effect."

Peter was gobsmacked. So there had been a dormant AI in his suit ever since 2016?

"Have you slept well, Karen?" Jocasta chimed in from the speakers in the workshop, introducing herself to the newest AI.

"I have, Jocasta," Karen replied, "Now I'm very well rested and ready to take on some bad guys."

Peter was smiling so hard his face hurt. He had just witnessed two AI sisters bantering! When had his life become so cool?

"I really look forward to work with you, Karen," Peter said excitedly, "This is the best day of my life! This is... I don't think I can ever thank you enough, Tony! I have never felt so powerful!"

"Is that so?" a new voice asked.

Peter turned behind him and saw Friday looking at him, her expression slightly malicious. She was donning her Lady Iron armor, the helmet still collapsed into the suit so Peter could see her face.

He tilted his head to the side in confusion as she spoke again: "Fancy testing out just how powerful you are?" she asked.

Peter turned to Tony, who just shrugged at him, smiling.

Friday's helmet came up: "You. Me. Training yard. Now."

Peter smiled: "Uh, Karen? It would appear your sister has just challenged us..."

"It would appear so," Karen agreed, "I say we show her what we've got..."

Peter preened slightly: "Bring it, Lady Iron," he said.

"Oh, this is gonna be interesting," Tony considered, crossing his arms, as the two youngest Avengers left the workshop to prepare for their showdown.

"Very interesting," Jocasta agreed.

Tony was a little confused by her tone: in that moment Jo sounded like a Bond villain watching her evil master plan slowly coming together...

He decided to investigate later. For now, he just wanted to watch the show.

***

All the kids had migrated into his workshop. Harley and Cooper were consoling Peter after the defeat he had just suffered, while Ashley, Lila and Cassie were all crowding Friday, congratulating her for how she had made quick work of Spiderman and his new upgrades: in less than a minute, Lady Iron had him trapped in his own webbing and dangling from a lamp post in a heap of limbs. Jo and Karen were alternating between trying to cheer Peter up and teasing him.

Laura entered the room with Nate balanced on her hip: "Hey," she greeted Tony, who was watching fondly from a distance.

"Hey," Tony smiled back.

"How are the Ironlings?" asked Laura.

"The what?" Tony shot back with a confused face.

"The kids. We have all taken to call them 'The Ironlings'."

Tony was taken aback. Why would they...

Laura turned to look towards the kids: "They all came together thanks to you, one way or another. You are the one who brought them all together, Tony," she said with a distant smile.

Tony considered Laura’s words as he, too, turned to look at the kids.

He supposed it was true, in a way. Cassie Lang, a girl from San Francisco, the Bishops, who used to live in a farm in Iowa, Harley from Tennessee, Peter from Queens, Friday, Jo, Karen... they all came together because of him. He was the connection that had linked them all in this weird thing that... that resembled a family.

It was kinda overwhelming to think about it. And a bit scary.

Then Nate made a noise and raised his arms towards him.

Laura looked down at her youngest son and then up at Tony. She smiled at him and repositioned Nate so that Tony could take him: "Uncle Tony, up?" he called.

Tony felt his heart leap in his throat in fear, but he swallowed it down and slowly took the three year old in his arms. The toddler wrapped his little arms around his neck and yawned, burying his head in the crook of Tony’s neck.

Tony looked down at him and smiled as the little boy immediately fell asleep in his arms.

He didn’t know how or when his life had become like this, but...

... he liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> Laura's last name - Bishop - is a nod to Kate Bishop, the female Hawkeye from the comics.


End file.
